Hi group,
Just installed the Carbide 3D Spindle. I had the router before and when the router was turned on, my Festool CT-15 vaccum was starting automatically since the router was plugged into the vaccum.
Now that I have a VFD Spindle and that the control box is always on, any idea what kind of setup i can do to make the vaccum start and stop automatically?
I have a Shapeoko Pro 5 4x4 with a VFD Spindle and use one of these vacuum switches available at Amazon.
Unfortunately, it’s not a 100% solution though. I have it set at the lowest 30 Watt setting and depending on which endmill I’m using or RPM setting, rarely the VFD doesn’t draw enough current to activate the switch. Some 1/8" endmills or running at lower RPMs may not activate the switch.
It works most of the time for what I do with my CNC machine so I’m happy with it. I would recommend mounting the switch somewhere accessible so you can override the setting to “On” if necessary.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for this option but it will not work.
I am pulling the power from the vaccum in order to make it start and stop depending if power is ask or not.
Are you sure this won’t work for you? Maybe I misunderstood your original post.
You’d plug your shop vac into the “vacuum” outlet on the device and the VFD Spindle Control Box into one of the two “tool” outlets. Power is always applied to the two “tool” outlets so your VFD Control Box is always on but the shop vac is not.
When you’re running your carve and the spindle turns on, the shop vac starts up (given the caveats I mentioned in my first post). There’s also a nice delay feature on the switch which leaves the shop vac running for a bit (3 seconds, 7 seconds or 10 seconds) after the spindle turns off just to make sure any chips are cleared out of the dust collection hose.
Hi, I know those kind of switch. The problem is that giving power to the shopvac, will not start it. This is a festool that don’t start when receiving power. Either need to press a button for manual or in automatic, you need to plug in the tool or whatever and start the “asking for power” that will make the shopvac start.
I just find a way via a Ivac tool and Ivac switch that will work. I will show tomorrow how I did it.
Oh, okay. I just have a Ridgid Shop Vac and Dust Deputy configuration for dust collection. I just leave the power switch for the Ridgid Shop Vac in the “on” position all the time. Good luck getting it all setup!
The iVac solution is what I use, but I don’t have a spindle so don’t know how that would impact it.
I am thinking about getting the Ivac blast gate to simplify the setup as I currently have a manual blast gate right at the router.
iVac has a system with a power sensor you can hook up to the spindle power cord. when it senses power being sent to the spindle, it can engage the vac or whatever you have plugged into the main unit.
This is exactly what I installed. I will create a youtube video explaining and showinf how I did it.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
